WTD International Trade News of the Week. Pick of the Litter Series, vol. # 8

From globalEDGE: World’s Largest Companies: Forbes recently came out with a list of the 25 largest companies in the world. These are all large, multinational corporations that have an extreme impact on the global economy. Made in the USA: According to a new analysis by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), there is a “manufacturing renaissance” on the United States’ horizon.

News about BRICs: In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development.

• From ICTSD • International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development: Increasing influence of BRICs in Africa: How should the EU respond?
• From BC STATS: Exports and Imports – Infoline: Another BRIC in the Export Wall
• From International Economic Law and Policy Blog: Is Chinese Investment in Africa Neo-Colonialism?
• From The China Sourcing Blog: Food Safety in China in 2011
• From World Trade Center Utah: US-China 2011 Conference – Salt Lake City – July 2011

BRIC Countries: Brazil, Russia, India & China

Goldman Sachs has argued that, since the four BRIC countries are developing rapidly, by 2050 their combined economies could eclipse the combined economies of the current richest countries of the world. These four countries, combined, currently account for more than a quarter of the world’s land area and more than 40% of the world’s population. Read more about BRICS in this WIKI article.

From U.S. Trade and Development Agency: USTDA Announces New Business Partnership Activities for Africa at AGOA Forum  USTDA announced its commitment to support multiple programs that will facilitate broad economic development across sub-Saharan Africa.

From IFAT Fair Trade Newsfeed: Sustainable fashion design competition is now open for applications.  Are you a fashion designer or business owner striving to work to high ethical and eco standards?

From ERS/USDA: World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates. Issued monthly, WASDE provides the most current USDA forecasts of U.S. and world supply-use balances for major grains, soybeans and products, and cotton, and U.S. supply and use data for sugar and livestock.  Livestock and Meat Trade Data The Livestock and Meat Trade Data Set contains monthly and annual data for imports and exports of live cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats, as well as beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, chicken meat, turkey meat, and eggs. Meat Price Spreads: This data set provides monthly average price values, and the differences among those values, at the farm, wholesale, and retail stages of the production and marketing chain for selected cuts of beef, pork, and broilers.

New Tariff Tool

From U.S. Department of Commerce: Tariff Tool Demystifies U.S. Trade Agreements for Manufacturers. The FTA Tariff Tool has three functions: 1) A searchable database to find the tariff treatment of industrial goods covered under the U.S. FTAs. 2)  Market access reports and charts across industrial sectors or product groups.  3)  A snapshot of current tariff and trade trends under different U.S. FTAs.